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The Courier-Journal

Hookah facts

The term “hookah” refers to the pipe used for inhaling a smoking blend, usually shisha, which uses flavored tobacco or other non-tobacco ingredients. Is hookah dangerous for your health?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shisha smoke contains many of the same toxins found in cigarette smoke and been associated with lung cancer, respiratory illness, low birth weight and periodontal disease. Are hookahs regulated in Louisville?

Hookah bars and lounges that sell food or alcohol must city ordinances that govern those services, but they are not considered to fall under Louisville’s smoking ban, because the hookahs often use non-tobacco products, health officials say.

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Sitting at a small table at Cafe 360 on a recent weeknight, 19-year-old Hayley Krider and a friend took turns inhaling from a lanky gold water pipe — or hookah — and then exhaling clouds of shisha smoke.

For about $12, she and her friends can share a pipe for an hour at the Bardstown Road restaurant — an affordable and relaxing alternative, Krider says, to going to parties and drinking alcohol.

“Hookah’s just something fun for everybody to do,” she said between puffs. “It’s clean fun. It’s not going out to bars and partying and getting messed up and causing trouble.”

The pastime is flourishing in Louisville — the Highlands alone has four hookah lounges and 12 smoke shops selling shisha and hookah-related items, and more shops have opened near the University of Louisville and in Clifton. Nationwide, as many as 40 percent of young adults have tried hookah smoking in the past year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

But health officials warn that hookah smoking, despite being legal for all ages in Kentucky, contains many of the same toxins found in cigarette smoke and been associated with lung cancer, respiratory illness, low birth weight and periodontal disease.

It’s the reason that Louisville health officials will soon recommend that everyone under 18 be prohibited from buying hookah products.

“With hookah bars and related products becoming more prevalent in the city, it makes sense to try to protect children, whose bodies and lungs are still developing, against the potential health risks,” said Public Health and Wellness spokesperson Dave Langdon.

Outside the ban

The popular shops have blossomed despite Louisville’s ban on smoking in public places.

City officials say they don’t believe the ordinance applies to hookahs because the shisha that is smoked in them often consists of non-tobacco products — blends of ingredients such as molasses, glycerin and flavoring. Louisville’s smoking ban applies only to tobacco products, officials said.

“Most of the time, we find that they’re not smoking tobacco,” said Kathy Harrison, a spokeswoman for Public Health and Wellness. “They’re smoking herbs or some sort of dried fruit.”

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Moreover, the smoking ordinance is enforced through complaints, and there have been very few complaints about tobacco being smoked inside hookah bars, officials say.

“Generally speaking, we have not been doing a lot of enforcement in hookah bars relative to the ordinance under the assumption that whatever’s being smoked is legal,” said Jim Mims, director of Codes and Regulations.

Cafe 360 owner Sanjay Taxak said some of the shisha he sells does contains tobacco, but that can only be smoked outside. Inside the restaurant, patrons may only order tobacco-less shisha. And he, like many hookah bar owners, won’t sell to minors.

“If any of these hookah lounges are using tobacco inside, they’re doing wrong,” he said.

Benefits vs. risks

Hookah smoking, a ritual that began centuries ago in Persia and India, is viewed by enthusiasts as a healthier alternative to cigarette smoking.

The short-term effects of smoking shisha are mild, said Cafe 360’s Taxak, especially for individuals who regularly smoke cigarettes or hookah. Shisha causing a “buzz,” he said, is a myth.

“If you don’t smoke, and you try hookah for the first time ... you’ll feel different because you’ve never smoked before,” he said. “For the chain users, it doesn’t affect them.”

But a recent study by the University of California San Francisco showed that they carry many of the same health risks as cigarette smoking. And the CDC warns that hookahs may actually cause a smoker to absorb higher concentrations of toxins — since a hookah session can last up to an hour.

Still, hookahs have their appeal — one that may have less to do with smoking and more with its social aspects, said Rocky Acquaviva, owner of Puff Puff Pass, a smoke shop at Bardstown Road and Grinstead Drive that sells hookah pipes and shisha.

In a world where people are spending increasing amounts of time in front of a computer screen, he said, smoking hookah with friends is an experience similar to sharing a meal — “something that keeps us all human.”